


Character

by falseintrospective (BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse)



Series: writing assignments [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Black Character(s), Body Image, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Gen, Interracial Relationship, Love/Hate, Older Man/Younger Woman, Rejection, Self-Acceptance, Self-Esteem Issues, Social Status, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Teenagers, Weight Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 19:06:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18998698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse/pseuds/falseintrospective
Summary: ‘Watch it, fat ass.’Aniya stared down at the words that adorned her skin, her fingers ghosting over the jagged cursive of her soulmate’s handwriting. Aniya was a late bloomer in the soulmate department, not getting her words until she was almost fifteen years old. Her twin Tyrese received his words at the average age of seven and he had not let her forget the fact that she was different from the others.





	Character

**Author's Note:**

> a writing assignment that i ended up not liking enough to submit.

_ ‘Watch it, fat ass.’ _

Aniya stared down at the words that adorned her skin, her fingers ghosting over the jagged cursive of her soulmate’s handwriting. Aniya was a late bloomer in the soulmate department, not getting her words until she was almost fifteen years old. Her twin Tyrese received his words at the average age of seven and he had not let her forget the fact that she was different from the others. 

Tyrese loved showing off the words that stretch across his right wrist, the elegant curly writing that announced to the world that Tyrese’s soulmate’s first words to him would be ‘Wow, you’re handsome.’ He loved wearing short sleeve shirts the left his arms bare. As soon as Tyrese had discovered his soulmark he had become far more active then he once was. Always playing a sport, always exercising, always paying attention to how he looked. 

Aniya was the exact opposite of her twin. When she didn’t receive her words the same day Tyrese had, she was devastated. She figured it would appear the next day, and when it didn’t, she figured next week. Then months later she remained unmarked and knowing with a certain sense of dread that she might be one of  _ them _ . The Whole Ones were people who never received a mark, people who held both sides of the same soul. They were no longer discriminated against, not by law at least, but to be one was never something anybody wanted to acknowledge. Aniya spent nine years slowly accepting the fact that she was a Whole One, that she was already complete and that she would not be meeting someone perfectly made for her.

And then she woke up on her fifteenth birthday. She never likes waking up, not appreciating the groggy feeling or the sleep crusted eyes, but as she squints against the harsh lights filtering in from her curtainless window she catches a glimpse of a dark smudge stretching across her wrist.

She remembers how fast her heart had started beating, the frantic rush of blood that had filled her ears at the sight of the black words. She held her wrist to her chest, securing it against her as she prayed she wasn’t hallucinating. She had slowly pulled her arm back and read, for the very first time, what her soulmate would say to her upon their first meeting.

_ ‘Watch it, fat ass.’  _

She remembers vividly how the words broke her so quickly. She had always hoped to have a love match, like her brother, where the first words she ever heard from her soulmate were words of pleasant surprise. To see that her soulmate thinks nothing of her, that they find her physique unappealing enough to comment on, is a disquieting realization.

Aniya rubs the words now, her fingers gentle as she traces the sharp twists and turns of the words that will mark her forever. She still feels a sharp pain every time she thinks too long on the words, but she also feels relief that she is one half of a whole.

She is so absorbed in investigating her mark that she doesn’t see the group of business men making their way past the coffee shop she’s standing in front of. She is tracing the sharp loops of the ‘f’ when she is brushed aside, stumbling back until her back bumps against the wall. She lets out a small cry when she makes contact, more shocked then hurt at the sudden impact, and she feels disbelief and the slow boil of anger take her over.

She places her hands against the cold brick behind her and looks up to glare at her assailant. The man is glaring right back at her, a black phone clutched in one hand and a newspaper curled under his arm. There are two other white men behind him, but her attention remains on the man making eye contact with her. He is older than her, far older, possibly late forties, early fifties, if she was going by the salt and pepper look of his short, stylized hair; it looks good on him, she notes. He is clean shaven and his jaw is strong and protruding as he grinds his teeth in frustration. His suit is a coal gray and looks silky smooth. It must cost a fortune, Aniya thinks, glaring back at the man in defiance. 

She pulls herself together, dismissing the fact that the man is attractive, and puts her hands on her hips, copying her mother’s posture before every harsh chastisement Aniya has ever received, and takes in one breath before—

“Watch it, fat ass,” the man hisses, his eyes a cold blue and his mouth sneering.

Aniya immediately chokes on nothing and deflates from her previous aggressive posture. The fight has suddenly left her, her mind shifting from shocked outrage to a wincing pain.

This is him, she realizes. This man, who is old enough to be her father, is somehow her soulmate. She stares at him, not saying anything as he scoffs at her, his body angled away as he dismisses her. 

“You shouldn’t stand in the middle of the sidewalk,” he says as a parting shot, turning away from her and carrying on down the sidewalk. The two men who stopped next to him follow along like baby ducklings, not sparing a glance at her gobsmacked expression. 

Aniya stands there for several minutes afterwards, her being shaken to the core. She knew her First  Contact would be a hard one, it was obvious by the words decorating her skin, but she hadn’t expected the mixed emotions that had filled her at his first words. She had felt the shame and disgust she always associated with her words, the sharp anger at his audacity spiking just as she knew it would. What had shaken her the most, however, was the small spark of pleasure. Behind the harsh tsunami of negative emotions that had consumed her there was a tiny spark of pleasure at finally hearing her words. There was a part inside of her that wanted to come alight, that wanted to celebrate meeting their perfect match.

Perfect match.

_ What bullshit.  _

She spins suddenly, startling the old woman who was shuffling her way past her. Aniya didn’t apologize, not like she usually would, before she stomped off in the direction her soulmate had gone. She wouldn’t stand by and let this go. He had her words on him somewhere and as she turned sharply around the corner she had watched him take, she formulated her response. Soulmarks were supposed to be spontaneous things, the first words blurted out when First Contact is established. 

Aniya doesn’t care. She doesn’t care that the words she is about to speak to this man are going to be rude. She has lived for the past three years knowing that one day someone was going to look at her and judge. She worked so hard trying to control her weight, trying to change her fate. Nothing ever worked. And now, as she’s stomping down the street and looking in every store she passes, she finds she’s happy she never succeeded in defying destiny. 

She almost doesn’t see him in the back of a hipster tea shop, but there he is, relaxing in a booth with his other cohorts. His newspaper is laid out on the table in front of him, one hand lazily turning the page as the other lifts a steaming mug up for a drink. 

Aniya straightens her back and makes her way into the shop, making a beeline for her soulmate. She stomps up to the table and stops, crossing her arms over her chest and staring intently at the man.

He glances up at her and she can see the annoyance slide across his face.

“What do  _ you _ want?” he sneers, raising his other hand so both of them cup the warm mug of tea in his grasp. 

Aniya sneers in return, funneling as much of her anger into her facial expression as she can. She then grasps the full glass of water in front of one of the man’s companions and takes great pleasure in throwing it right into the man’s face.

He is shocked, his face scrunching up as he sputters, his eyes frantically trying to blink the water out of his gaze. His arms jerk at the same time, spilling hot liquid across the table in front of him, ruining the paper he had been reading. 

“W-what?!” he shouts in confused shock, quickly putting down the hot tea in an attempt to distance himself from anymore spilling heat. 

“I can lose weight, jackass, but you can’t lose  _ ugly _ ,” she hisses in hostile glee, turning on her feet and gliding out of the shop. His shout of surprise and disgust followed her out.

Aniya smirks to herself as she struts her way back towards the coffee shop where Tyrese is probably waiting for her. She can’t bring herself to care that her words weren’t entirely true. After all, the man was rather handsome. His personality was certainly ugly enough, she thought with a cackle. 

She hums as she slows her pace, grinning at the sense of refreshment that fell over her. She had taken control of her fate and had twisted it to fit her wants. Whoever her soulmate was, he wouldn’t soon forget the woman fate had saddled him with. 

**Author's Note:**

> in retrospect, her words wouldve been on his wrist for who knows how long; did her words influence his attitude, which in turn influenced his interactions with the people around him? is fate just one large cycle that will always prevail?


End file.
